To Victory Once More
by Miracle Angel
Summary: With a dark past and heavily in debt, she tries to start anew by attending a regular middle school and getting a job at another school. Will she be able to move on? Or will she fall back into the dark empty hole? No pairings yet!


A/N: *waves* Presenting to you, a brand new story! I re-used the name for my OC again, though. I'm too lazy to think up of a new one :p Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy it. Had this idea in my head for quite some time now, and I finally managed to force myself to type it all out. Turned out longer than expected. Was supposed to be more (much more) in this chapter, but *lazy* I'm moving it to the next chapter |D

Read, Enjoy, Review. Constructive criticism is welcome, as well as support.

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not own the Prince of Tennis. If I did, well, let's just say you wouldn't want to know.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 1<strong>

With at least fifteen minutes to the bell ringing, she wasn't worried about being late on her first day of school. What she _was_ worried about, was the fact that she wouldn't be able to get a good seat – which would be stuck with her for the rest of the year, unless the teacher took matters into his or her own hands and do the class' seating arrangement. She snorted at the thought. No, that would never happen. Teachers wouldn't go through all that trouble.

The golden-eyed girl walked hastily to classroom 1-5, praying silently that there would be some decent seats left in class. But of course, Murphy's Law had to apply itself here in this situation. She arrived at the door of her classroom and was shocked when she looked inside. She looked at the clock, then back at the students already settling down. Impossible. Just impossible. There was still at least thirteen minutes to spare before the bell rang and yet it seemed as though everyone was already there. Being raised in America, she had expected only a few students to be in class. Apparently things were different in Asia. So much for being the early bird.

The seats were arranged in four lanes of twos. She made her way slowly to the only seat left, second row from the blackboard, and it was just beside the windows, which meant that it was the furthest lane from the doors. She felt eyes fall on her, watching as she went over to the last seat. The air went still – the chatter and noise has been replaced with silence. The girl soon found out why everybody else in the room was watching her. The seat, _her _seat, was wedged in between the windowed wall and a fierce looking boy. As she neared, she saw that the black haired boy had black slits amongst the white in his eyes and he somehow reminded her strangely of a snake.

"Um, excuse me." She cleared her throat.

The scary-looking boy looked up from whatever he was reading and looked at her. To the girl's credit, she did not flinch as she met his gaze levelly. The rest of the class seemed to be in awe at this. The boy had probably scared the whole class with his looks the moment he or his classmates entered the class. It worked both ways.

The boy shifted his chair inwards towards the desk to allow the girl to have enough space to move to her seat.

"Thanks," she said. She concluded that since she was going to be stuck with this _snake-boy_ for the rest of the year, she had might as well try to break through that stiff demeanor of his and poke his soft side. In other words, be good friends.

Just then, a young woman walked into the class and broke the spell cast upon the entire class. The class shifted their attention from the pair to the newcomer. This was undoubtedly the teacher. Gauging her age, she had to be around twenty-two, a young age to be a teacher but not unheard of.

"Good morning, class," the teacher greeted. "Welcome to Seishun Gakuen. Now for the course of the first three days in your new school, there will be no lessons. Instead, this is the time for you to make new friends, familiarize yourself with the school campus, get to know more about the various clubs and perhaps pick a few to join. Shortly put, this three day span will also be known as your orientation."

The teacher looked at her watch and clapped her hands together. "Since we have a bit of time before we head down to the exhibition booths, why don't we start with the introductions first? I don't think I've introduced myself yet, have I? I am your homeroom teacher, Tanaka Satomi. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu." Tanaka-sensei bowed.

"Let's start with you then," Tanaka-sensei said cheerily to the student nearest to the door.

The girl stood up and faced the class. "Kanagawa Riko. Yoroshiku," she said and bowed.

The students stood up one by one and introduced themselves. Not long after, the student in front of the golden-eyed girl and snake-boy stood up.

"I'm Handa Satoshi and I'm about to become the top tennis player in Seigaku," the boy boasted arrogantly.

Golden-eyed girl narrowed her eyes. That arrogant boy was a complete bluff. She could tell at once that he was still an amateur by his muscles. They weren't much you would have if you were considered an advanced player. Snake-boy must have noticed this too, as he let out a soft but angry "fshhhh".

Snake-boy stood up next and looked at Handa straight in the eye. No surprises there when Handa flinched. "I'm Kaidou Kaoru and I'm going to beat you in tennis."

There it was again – that spell was once again cast upon the class. Still air, held breaths, nervous exchange of glances.

Handa regained his composure and smirked. "You can try, but you will never succeed, _Kaidou-kun_. Why not have a match later? I'll put you where you belong."

"Now now, boys. Be nice to each other. You can both sign up for the tennis club later," said Tanaka-sensei.

Kaidou fixed a death glare at Handa before sitting down. "Bring it on."

The golden-eyed girl stood. "My name is Sakamoto Miharu. You can just call me Miharu, if you want. I'm afraid I don't really play tennis," she said sheepishly. The class, having reverted back to normal, laughed at this good-heartedly. She had the finest features; everything about her seemed so perfect. Nothing about her was out of proportion. With her past-shoulder-length light brown hair and prominent golden eyes, she was certainly the cream of the crop in terms of looks. "Yoroshiku onegaishimasu," she smiled and bowed.

As the teacher led the class down to the campus grounds for the club booths, Sakamoto studied Kaidou. If she was going to crack his hard shell, she would need to know who exactly she was dealing with. He was of the right build and had the right muscles for a tennis player, probably not what you would call average, but a little more than that. She guessed that Kaidou wouldn't be half-bad once you get to him.

"Ne, Kaidou-kun, do you play tennis?" Sakamoto asked.

"Fshhhh." He nodded.

"Well, that's a good thing then. Make sure you crush him," she jerked her chin towards Handa. "I don't like the way he talks big when he can't live up to it."

"Aa. I will, Sakamoto-san," he nodded again.

"Call me Miharu. Sakamoto isn't really my family name," she looked away. She didn't want to explain any more.

Kaidou seemed to have sensed this as he didn't press on and remained silent. They continued walking in silence together with the class until the teacher came to a stop.

"Since it's the time to visit the various booths set up by the clubs, you are free to explore. Remember to report back to class at 12noon, in three hours' time," Tanaka-sensei said.

"Come on, Kaidou-kun, let's go to the tennis courts! You can sign up for the tennis club there," Sakamoto said excitedly and practically dragged Kaidou along.

Just then, Handa appeared. "Hey, Kaidou, I challenge you to a tennis match," he smirked.

"Fshhhh." Kaidou snarled in his face, "You're on."

At the tennis courts, Handa, Kaidou and Sakamoto were greeted by many tennis club members and shown around the courts. Meanwhile, there were a few matches taking place in the courts.

"Excuse me, is it alright if we tried playing tennis using one of your courts?" Sakamoto asked a friendly-looking member politely. He had also light-brown hair, but his eyes were closed, and he was wearing that smile, making him look approachable.

"Saa, I guess it would be alright. But you'll need to wait until they're done with their match," he gestured to the nearest court.

They turned their focus to the match going on inside. By the looks of it, the match will be over soon. The bespectacled brunette was scoring service aces against his opponent.

"Game, Tezuka, 5 games to 0," the umpire called.

Now that the losing party was serving, the guy called Tezuka scored return aces and decided the outcome of the match.

"Tezuka wins 6 games to 0."

Tezuka, apparently, was a very experienced tennis player. He hadn't broken a sweat and managed to defeat his opponent who was probably a third year with a perfect score.

The friendly tennis member led the threesome into the courts.

"That was a good game, Tezuka," said the smiling boy.

Tezuka acknowledged their presence by nodding. "Fuji." He glanced at the three first years and inquired, "Who are these?"

"Ah, these freshmen just wanted to try playing tennis. I must say I find their eagerness rather fascinating. You just don't see many people with a real passion for tennis anymore."

"Make sure you take care of them, Fuji. I don't want any injuries," said Tezuka and left the courts.

"Saa, I'll be the umpire for this game. Who'll be playing?" Fuji asked.

Handa and Kaidou went to a side of the court each, clutching their tennis rackets. They both wore serious looks on their faces, but Handa had an unbearable air of arrogance around him. Not like it would help slow down the ball for him, but you never know.

Sakamoto called out from the side, "Ganbatte, Kaidou-kun!"

"One set match. Handa to serve."

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><p>Miracle Angel: Yes, well. Hope you enjoyed it |D Also, I haven't really decided on who's going to win the match yet. Suggestions, anyone?<p>

Handa: Pfft, what are you talking about? Of course it's going to be _me_.

Kaidou: Fshhhh.

Sakamoto: *chants quietly* I must refrain from punching him. I must refrain from punching him. I must refrain from punching him.

Miracle Angel: I'm afraid you don't decide that, folks XD You'll find out soon in the next chapter. *pats* Reviews are most welcome, and will most probably decide the speed of my typing the next chapter *hides*


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